What great times, what great memories. Riding around in his beat up, faded blue pick up truck, stopping off at Jack's for french fries and Mountain Dew, going to the quick mart for 25 cent comics pulled fresh off the spinner rack ('Hey Kids, Comics!'), grabbing a pocket full of green and original flavored Super Bubble from Crestline Pharmacy (where they also sold those giant sized comic books like SUPERMAN vs. SPIDERMAN!). Ahhh, good times. And I'd like to think I am creating the same kinds of opportunities for my kids to form their own sorts of warm memories. I guess we'll know eventually :)
But anyway, a buddy of mine on Facebook brought these to my attention:
...and it got me thinking back to those great Saturday's with dad.
So what's the big deal, you may ask. They're just glasses with Star Trek on them.
Ah but they are MORE than that, my friend! MUCH more! See, these are the new Star Trek movie licensed glasses from Burger King!
Yep, you read that right. GLASSES! From Burger King! Real life, old school, motherfucking movie licensed glasses from the God Damned Burger King!!!
When we were kids, every big movie had glasses. All the Star Wars flicks, some of the Indy movies did. I think there were glasses for Disney's Black Hole and E.T. as well. And usually you'd get these at McDonalds or- more often than not- Burger King. Every now and then, some B-/C+ level fast food joint- like Hardees- would try to get in on the action, but it was clear they didn't have the money for the good licenses so you'd end up with glasses that had pictures of Kenny Rogers from Six Pack, or James Gardner from TANK.
Well anyway: here are some glasses that I remember fondly:
I have super fond memories of that Boba Fett/Darth Vader glass. I think we had like 3 of them. Over the years, they were either lost or- more likely- broken in accidental drops onto our hard kitchen floor.
As of late- as in, the last 20+ years- the glasses thing has given to shitty plastic cups where the ink comes off after 4-5 runs thru the washing machine. These little, stupid cups may have helped the fast food places avoid lawsuits but they've never felt substantial and they have not- I don't think- pushed their way into the consciousness of the last few generations of children.
But check it out! Now the glasses are back! And it makes me feel like a kid again!
Hell, I didn't even like the new Trek film all that much, but I think I'll hunt down a Burger King tomorrow just to get me a Mr. Spock glass! You know, for old time's sake!
How cool!
Ok, going to bed- later ya'll!
David
ps. Yes, Nikki- I still have very, very fond memories of The Tickle Lady, Six Flags, seeing Smokey and the Bandit and Jaws with you and Stephen, thinking May was calling the Mnt. Brook Police, doing jumps in the dirt in Stephen's THING car/truck hybrid, and many, many other great memories. Mom says I never blog about you...well I just did! :) And I will in the future! I love you!
excellent! reminds me of the alladin cups from BK when i was a lil feller. aaah sweet memories is right :-)
ReplyDeletethanks for the heads up jaffe, i'll be picking up my ST cups from burger king at some point. and i prefer plastic to glass, but hey, to each his own. :)
ReplyDeleteSigh I just wrote a big ass reply then I went to post it to get an error message.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I remember those cups very fondly. When Jurassic Park came out we had a promotion over here in 'oz and there were about 5-10 cups to collect, at one stage I had about 25 of them. They're all broken or lost now (butterfingers!) but I loved them. If we have the same deal over here with the Star Trek glasses I might buy one, even though I've never ever seen an episode or movie. The only glass I have now [movie related] is a Shrek one which is pretty lame but very solid, I've dropped it 3-4 times!
I hope you're having a good weekend David. Do you follow the NHL? Anaheim are playing well in the playoffs!
If Hardees is a B-/C+, what does that make Burger King?
ReplyDeleteThat brings back memories... going to Target to purchase Star Wars action figures for $.99! What are they now? 5 bucks? 7 bucks?
ReplyDeleteCharlie, I hear you but back in the day (i.e. the 70's, early 80's) BK and Mickey D's were like very, very competitive. It was not a given that McDonalds was always going to be the #1 fast food chain. So those two were like the AAA chains (at least, that is my perception of it, as a customer who frequented those kind of places way too much at a time). :)
ReplyDeleteTODAY BK is totally a B- chain and Hardee's (well, to be fair, we don't even have Hardee's out here in So Cal) but Hardee's is prob a D level chain.
David
I read your blog all the time and you remind me of Family Guy's Seth Mcfarlane. I just always have really nice memories when I watch Family Guy and read your blog. The 80s were really fun, kids these days just do not understand.
ReplyDeleteDavid, have you ever been to Universal Studios. Its by no means as fun as Disnyland but for a day its a fun time for movie lovers. You probably have. But man, I just miss that Back to the Future ride. I had such a great time on that.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of those Star Wars glasses. Personally I had the Empire Strikes Back glass with Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader. It was lost along the way in my journey's of life and I miss that glass.
ReplyDeleteI also have vivid memories of the fast food joints (namely McDonalds) selling VHS movies of the Indiana Jones trilogy with the purchase of a value meal at McD's. Surely we probably won't see that again as it is expensive for these resturants to purchase the movie license, marketing of the product, etc. Burger King must of paid a hefty price for the movie license just to sell Star Trek glasses.
It would be nice to see more of these glasses in the future.
Hell, I remember this promotion Disney World did for its 25th anniversary, as they sold Disney World glasses at McDonalds. That little promotion was probably done, what, 10-12 years ago, but it's still nice to see they had those glasses.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Disney World glasses from my childhood. Sadly I am not old enough to have experienced the original movie ones that you did back in the 80s. :( Oh well, I'll also try to pick up at least one or two of the BK glasses as well. As a chain they're B- level but their food's definitely better than McD's, in my humble opinion anyway. So I'll have a reason to stop by anyway. :P
ReplyDeleteIm not that old, (haha still a youngin') but I still remember getting toys from McDanlalds on my happy meal and playing with them for hours (my parents loved how easily entertained I was), and when I was just getting a little too old for the happy meals the toys just seemed a lot more cheap, maybe that was just me growing up, but I dont know
ReplyDeleteBURGUER KING RULES THE SHIT OUT OF MCDONALDS! I CARRY THE BK FLAG EVERYWHERE!
ReplyDeleteHere in my country the food is MUCH MUCH better in BK, and it always has been!
ReplyDeleteI know that the cheese at Burger King isn't quite as plastic-y as the stuff at McDonalds, and any onions from bk don't leave this weird aftertaste...
ReplyDeleteHey Jaffe, you and I are basically the same age and grew up with the pretty much same shit and we, too, had 2 or 3 of each of those Empire Strikes Back glasses. I think my parents still have one (dishwasher-faded) version of the DV/BF one somewhere. Every time one was dropped and broke, it was like a piece of me was lost forever.
ReplyDeleteFunny how that picture you threw up there brought back so many memories, so much red kool-aid in summer time... *sigh*
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